Note-I have told this story on another site, I just thought I'd share it with you guys.

This story is about a friend of mine; Britt. At the time she had just moved from TX. So she did a decent amount of whitetail hunting, especially with an AR-15. Anyways, we became pretty good friends, so I invited her to go buck hunting with me on the ranch. At the time, I had a light weight .300 WSM built for hunting off horseback and such. Anyways we started into the timber, taking our time and being as quiet as possible. We get in there about half a mile and I see this buck looking straight at us. I knew it was nice buck, so I had Britt get in front of me to shoot him. At the crack of the rifle, I heard the thump of the little bullet smacking the deer right in the neck, but he turns around and takes off. I knew he was hit good, so we start following his blood trail, rifles at the ready in case he busted out. We didn't go but 100 yards before we see him again, so she takes a shot at him, and misses. Same thing happened the next shot. The 4th shot land high above the chest cavity and the 5th and final shot landed in front of the front shoulder. Old Bucky kept trotting along till he was just outside another patch of timber, stopped, and looked at us again. By that time, I had Britt saddled up behind the .300, and at the bark of the rifle, she fell flat on her butt. I didn't realize this because I was watching the buck, who looked like Derek Jeter had just hit a home run swing to his head. Anyways, she said something about how I should have told her it kicked and that I was a son of a **** or bastard or something along those lines. Anyways I looked over and the first thing I noticed was the blood seeping out of her head. She has never forgiven me for the scar that rifle left her, and she probably never will either. On the bright side, she was happy as day light.

I would question the choice of a light weight .300 for a young lady used to a .223. My daughter took over my Kimber light weight .300, and she is a small girl, but very experienced in large bore rifles and handguns. Britt would probably do better with a .243 or 6mm to hunt with for deer. Elk maybe a .270, 7mm or .308. That being said anyone can get scoped (especially in the excitement of a hunt) if you get to far up on the stock or it doesn't fit right. I've had many conversations with my kids about the scope! Nice buck!

Same concept I had around that rifle when I had it. Great accurate rifle but it wasn't fun to shoot. I'm probably going to be getting a .300 RSAUM from a guy here soon. I'd like to have a short mag that didn't knock the snot out of ya.

Yes, great rifles to carry where it's steep! Not much fun to plink with though, we usually just shoot it enough to stay comfortable with it and check zero! A lot of my magnums we like to shoot rocks way across canyons, but the .300 WSM not so much in a real light rig.......

I got that .300 SAUM. Ruger M77 Mark II. I've already free floated it and glass bedded the recoil lug. Now I have two magnums; the one I just talked about and a 700 BDL in 8mm Remington Mag. The 8 mag can be tamable.

That sounds like a nice rifle too. That's cool you have an 8mm Magnum, not too many around. Supposed to be a great cartridge. I'm a fan because it's the parent cartridge to the 7mm STW, one of my favorite rifles. It will really reach out there, perfect long range cartridge for Idaho. I've been using it since Layne Simpsons first article about it. We've shot a lot of muleys and a few elk with it.

You know the story about wasting the ballistic performance of a caliber , in the dirt , on the far-side of a animal is no good ? True , the 300 SM , 8mm and all the rest big powder volume guns do have their place on big bodied animals (with large bones) and the same goes for to small of a caliber that shoots a bullet without a nuff shank to drive it through , where they live ! Case in point , I experienced this on a trip to Montana on a good Whitetail Buck , after hunting Muley's for 4 days I couldn't find what I was looking for , even tho my 3 Brothers had harvested fair Muley's up to 26" I was looking for something better . I decided to take this Whitetail down on the river , as I laid under a windrow of cut hay and waited for him to come-out of the trees , I steadied my 22-250 on its bipod loaded with 55 gr Nosler FB . He walked out , facing me with his head up high at 160 yds , I put the dot of the scope right on his white patch ( under his chin ) and touched the trigger , he raised-up on his back legs and hopped for 20 yds on them and when all fours touched the ground , he started going around like a dog looking for a place to crap , even tho I could see blood pouring out of the wound , this lasted 2 or 3 minutes , finely he died ! When I got-up to him I could see his neck-bone in the 2 1/2 " hole the bullet made when it blew-up on impact but not breaking his neck.....even though it was traveling at 3450 fps . I knew a 243 would have been better !

For your pretty friend too ? I love Girls that hunt , you're a Lucky Man with her shooting a nice Buck !

Twenty years or so ago , I had built up a 224 Clark , it was a 257 case necked down to 22 cal . The smith that did the work was making swaged bullets in 75 gr varmint and 85 gr hunting bullets . I could run these out the barrel at close to 3500 fps and it was accurate . For squirrels , I could turn them into vapor out to 350 plus yds so , I decided it was good for deer too as the accuracy would allow for me to pin-point my shots . Well , the first 2 Bucks I shot were inside of 200 both shot in the neck just under the jaw , I could take my knife with just about one swipe and cut their heads off . Then came the shot at 275 yds , this Buck ( a nice 4 pointer 26 " and heavy ) stood broadside , I shot him about and inch above his curly hairs , he bowed-up and ran down hill for 300 plus yards and stood in some willows facing me , when I got close . I shot him again at 30 yds , in the head below his ear . I was surprised to see when I opened him up , all the blood-shot on the side he was hit , ruined the shoulder and part of the back-strap with secondary missiles all over .

That convinced me it was the wrong caliber for hunting something to eat !

blackrock wrote:That sounds like a nice rifle too. That's cool you have an 8mm Magnum, not too many around. Supposed to be a great cartridge. I'm a fan because it's the parent cartridge to the 7mm STW, one of my favorite rifles. It will really reach out there, perfect long range cartridge for Idaho. I've been using it since Layne Simpsons first article about it. We've shot a lot of muleys and a few elk with it.

Love the gun. Really something that was far ahead of its time. Even the 7mm STW was far ahead of its time. Had some of those cartridges come out during these times they'd probably be on fire. I have a buddy who made a .300 STW. All he had to do was decap 7 STW brass with a universal decapper, then size the neck in either a .300 Winchester or .308 Norma die. There was his formed .300 STW. It's an accurate gun. He is reaching .300 RUM velocities with it using a little bit less powder and noticeably less recoil. Precise as hell. It was putting them 5 inside 2" at 500 yards.

It sure sounds like a accurate rifle ! I kinda think , as my rifles are for hunting and I try to do everything possible to make them shoot straight , they are hunting rifles ! I try to use a rest ( shooting stix )as sometimes there isn't much to lean against . My Win 338 shooting 210's it will group inside of a 1" at a 100 yds and my BDL 7/08 3/4" , my 65/284 well , out of 5 shots 3 will normally be touching but , with all the Big Game I've shot on a mountain side if I can pound the curly hairs ( 2"X 8" strip ) I'm happy as hell with them being DOA within 20 yds , mostly !

I always find it funny watching these hunting shows where guys have to track these animals they shot with rifles. Really doesn't make sense to me. Even the two elk I've shot (first one at 437 yards with a 6mm Remington) dropped dead in their tracks.

Damn lucky shot , I must say ! I've hunted with a Win 243 for the better part of 20 plus years and I have harvested plenty of game with it . Even though it will shoot under one minute of accuracy , once you get over 300 yds things fall apart ( energy , trajectory and wind drift ) do effect its performance .

Being Damn Lucky past 300 , on a Elk size animal can only mean , it was hit in the head ?

I've killed enough Elk to know bigger calibers are better even at a shorter range than 300 yds .

Nope. At that distance, he was walking straight up a little hill and stopped to eat some grass or something. When his head went up, I had the crosshairs right at base of the back of his head. It dropped that 105 gr. Berger right into the base of the neck and dropped him where he stood. Dead to. I made one big mistake that day though; using the horses back and the saddle as a rest.

Living where you live and having the opportunity to spend time scouting early.......priceless !

I have hunted the Southwest part of your state with friends that live in Sheridan and Old-time Pals that own the Buffalo Lodge at Clark Res. With wearing out a good pair of boots along the way , game was everywhere on the private ranches we hunted around Grant . My favorite place to be was over in Sheep Creek as within a mile , I could lose the crowd other than a couple Packers that work the easier slopes below me . I love hunting the rock ledges in those steep drop-offs as I could be selective in what I wanted to tag OR packout !

I admire your Youth and there was , once upon a time !

Still a Lucky Shot with 105's in a 6 mm at 437 yds.........Kentucky windage was your friend and off a saddle ? Must of been and old mare with a lot of experience or the rodeo was something to see ?

Not a lick of wind. I knew where the bullet was going. I had been practicing taking shots out to 500 yards all summer long. i knew what the bullet drop was in 50 yard range increments out to 500. I also knew how much the wind would push the bullet in up to a 30 mile per hour crosswind. On the horse, It was a little bit of a rodeo. Young horse's first trip into the back country. Took a good 5 minutes to get him calm. All fun though. You only get to be young and dumb once in your life.

What are you talking about , I've been Dumb all my life...........but , I still read ballistic books and charts .

The best I could do with my 243 and a 95 nosler or 100 Rem Core-lock ( My Favorite ) was 300 yds on a Muley on the Arizona Strip , which weighed 247 field-dressed in camp , shot through the lungs and he ran 150 yds like he wasn't hit , then piled up . I had loaded it with 44 grs of 4831 ,Win lg primer and the 100 gr Core-lock . IT did a wonderful job of opening up as it punched through the top of his shoulder blade but didn't have the energy to knock out the other shoulder........Matching the caliber to the game size has better results , I've learned !

As of 20 some years ago that Sako L 57 in Win 243 became a 6.5/284 with a 8.5 twist Douglas 24" barrel . It has been the hammer of thor on many animals throughout the west , way before long-range rifles became popular . For what I spent in time and money ( back then ) to put 5 shots inside 4" at 400 yards ( my distance killing and animal limit ) , you can buy just as accurate of a rifle over the counter . When it comes time for me to hunt Elk , I reach for the Win 338 with 210 Noslers , with the shots I've made with it ( across canyons at my range limit ) it pounds them in the dirt as it has broke them down where they can't go anywhere . Sure there are cases with more powder volume and (yes ) do have more velocity but they recoil harder to me so , I shoot what I shoot best !